"Jubilation Inflation" is the Tamar Ettun's solo show at the UNLV Barrick Museum of Art, the anchor exhibition for the Second Annual College of Fine Arts Art Walk on October 12. "This is the culmination of the five years color project and the first time all four inflatables are shown together," says the artist on Facebook. "The name for the exhibition is taken from a poem [On Orange] by Rose McLarney, who wrote me this beautiful piece about orange and let us include it." At 6:30 p.m. College of Fine Arts Dean Nancy J. Uscher will toast Las Vegas arts community at The Barrick. The art walk goes on until 9 p.m. (The Beam hosts¡Americanx!)

Photo: Jo Russ

Jo Russ "Desert Birdlife Soiree" opened at Delano Las Vegas. Her vivid collage work is now an installation that allows guests to interact in the lobby with this art-as-immersion experience. Runs through January. Instagram hashtags are ​#jkruss #delanoartseries #desertbirdlifesoiree

Photo: Jo Russ​

Photo: PaintThisDesert

The Studio at Sahara West Library is filled with works from James Stanford for "Shimmering Zen." The exhibition features his landmark digital collages that revisit neon signs and Las Vegas landmarks as a source (metaphor) of personal spirituality. Resource Magazine Online has an extensive interview with Stanford.

The Neon Museum post the latest acquisition: The sign from the Red Barn. The history goes like this. " The Red Barn opened in 1958 as an antique store on Tropicana Avenue near Maryland Parkway and was converted into a bar in the early 1960s. By day, the bar catered to straight customers but served a largely gay clientele at night. By the early 1970s, it had evolved into one of the few openly gay bars in Las Vegas. The bar offered drag shows like the popular RB Follies and published the 'RB Bag,' one of the earliest gay magazines in Southern Nevada. The Red Barn closed in March 1988 and the building burned down several months later."

Photo: The Neon Museum.

Photo: PaintThisDesert

RETNA's large-scale letterforms are one of the leave-behind murals in downtown Las Vegas. My first pass to see new murals in the Life is Beautiful footprint reveals there are not many new works. No surprise since wall space is getting scarce. If you missed it, Bordalo II was interviewed via email by the LasVegas Review Journal, and a preview at Las Vegas Weekly that later confirms two projects were down after the festival ended September 22.

A rare view of Mona Lisa without a car parked next to the chin. The mural is Dray Drizzle's latest addition to Downtown Las Vegas.
​Photo: PaintThisDesert

Photo: PaintThisDesert

Jerry Misko's new mural Casino Center and Hoover in Downtown Las Vegas. The phrase at the end is "A Place in the Sun." I am guessing that is the title of this new "Misko."
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- "Far from the established New York design world, California became a haven for avant-garde designers, a hub of innovation in both discourse and practice." West of Modernism: California Graphic Design, 1975–95 opens at LACMA

- The J. Paul Getty Trust now has the papers of the pioneering assemblage artist Betye Saar, and with that came the news the Getty Research Institute will begin The African American Art History Initiative - New York Times

- Grandest U.S. show to date of Victor Hugo drawings opens this week at The Hammer Museum. It has an "unprecedented" number of loans from Bibliothèque Nationale (18) and Maison de Victor Hugo (25) I Art Newspaper

​- "Art, science and skateboarding were the magic combination of interests that propelled Halloran into her life as an artist." James Daichendt on artist Lia Halloran, who began her residency at Lux Art Institute I San Diego Tribune

- Jean-Michel Basquiat's life to become a Broadway musical. "The production will have access to both Jean-Michel’s art and personal archives (which is likely to make for some pretty extraordinary sets)." I ​ArtNet
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​- Dartmouth College to move a set of racially insensitive murals that offended Native American students to an off-campus storage facility I USNews

- East coast writer takes a look at street art murals in Curaçao 'cause the weather is warmer there. I Forbes

- You have seen it, but here it is again. Brett Kavanaugh Senate testimony was mash-upped with Jules pre-hit speech in "Pulp Fiction." Samuel Jackson approved.

FINAL NOTE

As seen on instagram. When critiquing a project using street art themes you must bring in qualified vandals. Sage Sage and Shawn Gatlin came to my 2D Basic class at UNLV to see student work that are a response to campus safety (and a few other topics). The work will seen during UNLV College of Fine Arts Annual Art Walk in undisclosed locations.

D O A R​ T :The sign that once read Indoor Garden Organic Supercenter became a guerrilla message. Consider it an alternative gateway to the downtown Las Vegas Arts District.

​I will be taking an indefinite summer sabbatical to work on options that could lead to the next stage of Paint This Desert. During that time I will also be doing some art-making, catching up on reading, and write non art freelance essays. You may see some tinkering around the site, and I will still be chatting up on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also, proceeds from the sales of BUNKO based prints and other general swag will be stashed away into a PtD fund. Until then, here is a summer Link + Ink with art items leading into September.

Photo PtD​

A MURAL OF MAYORS: In the arts district Mayor Carolyn Goodman, and former mayor Oscar Goodman, with ever-present martini, offer a gleeful toast to anyone wandering the alleys on a mural safari.

Photo PtD​

BACK UP: In between haunts at DIsneyland and Melrose Avenue, There She Is Art and You Kill Me Firsthave begun popping-up again in the 18b. They produce works that fall under what Dr. Rafael Schacterwrote in "Esto Es Graffiti" (2014); visual ornaments that "aim for parity which held elitism in contempt." And by being seen in public space without the support of galleries works like this "overturn the laws" of traditional art markets.

LINK: In my preview of Andrew Schoultz's "In Process" at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art I wrote the installation will be an "ephemeral summer affair with art." Don't miss it. A bar has been raised for both venue and artist . . . Some Ink: "​Welcome to Andrew Schoultz’s world. It’s a colorful, sometimes fantastical place, populated by prancing beasts breathing fire," says the Review-Journal . . .More Ink:"The installations depend on confident, single-stroke, uncorrected lines. In 'Spinning Eyes,' those lines deploy large-scale optical interference patterns that literally make our casual viewer dizzy! Centered in each pattern is the all-seeing eye, inspired by the orb atop the pyramid of the almighty dollar and looking in the direction of 24-hour surveillance." That's from Las Vegas Weekly. . . Summer Days: "In Process: Every Movement Counts" runs through September 15.

PLAN AHEAD: The College of Southern Nevada, Department of Fine Arts, Art & Art History Program are now accepting exhibition proposals for the College’s Fine Arts Gallery and Artspace Gallery 2019 - 2020 Season. "Solo and group exhibitions of all media and genre will be considered" says the release. They encourage the proposals to speak to CSN's student diversity. "The gallery committee will select either the Fine Arts or Artspace Gallery for each exhibition based on content, media, audience, and proposal." Artists, curators, and/or organizations who send in an application will be notified around 30 days after the submission deadline of September 15, 2018. For details click on CSN.

CSN's Jeff Fulmer with the glow of art. Photo: PtD.

OPEN CALL FOR ART: Artists are also being invited by Settler + Nomads to submit work of any medium for Today is All We Have, the website's first digital exhibition. (The deadline is July 6). Curated by Holly Lay and Mikayla Whitmore, the selecteddigital images or videos will be presented as an online gallery in August 2018.

ENTERPRISE LIBRARY: David Veliz "Fading Shadows" wants to show you black and white portraits that examine light and personality. Through August 28, 2018.

​SAHARA WEST GALLERY: Jerry Misko “Polyhedral” is billed as “paintings and drawings created using polyhedral dice and accompanying data charts designed to randomly inform the visual narrative of the colorful, bold artworks. Runs from July 13 through September 15, 2018. Reception on July 19 (5:30 to 7 p.m.) . . . Myranda Bair “All That Glitters” are “works “reflecting on the importance of preserving natural areas.” July 17 through September 23, 2018. Reception for both exhibitions on Thursday, July 19, 2018 (5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.)​

David Veliz, Dark Days

"Monuments" at Sahara West Library closed with an Arts & Conservation Artist Panel Talk with Sam Davis, Fawn Douglas, Brent Holmes, and Karla Lagunas. It was moderated by Dr. Suzy Newbury, and arranged by Checko Salgado.

​I mention it because other than it being a strong chat on the exhibition, and how artists respond to Nevada's natural resources, Lee Cannarozzo was a guest artist. His work of drawings with gold leaf on handmade yucca paper was a rigorous process. Have some video.

Lee lead the mounting of my thesis exhibition. Now he's on his way to Upstate New York to be a M.F.A candidate.

​Good luck, my friend.

MORE EXHIBITION NOTES​

CORE CONTEMPORARY: Nancy Good opens “Burning Tapestries: See, Touch & Go Dream” at her new gallery in New Orleans Square. The works are based on images she captured at Burning Man. (Nancy shared her original photographs here). The artists reception is July 20. Runs through September 15 . . . NEVADA HUMANITIES PROGRAM GALLERY: Neon AIR: Radiant Residents is a survey of former and upcoming Neon Museum Artists-in-Residence invitees: Whitney Lynn, Allison Wiese, and Karl Orozco. The artist reception for Orozco is July 5. Runs through July 26 . . . WINCHESTER CULTURAL CENTER: Great word of mouth on "I AM GREAT?" by Karin Quindo Miller, a video installation that "explores shifts between self-conﬁdence and anxiety" and revisits how the gallery space at Winchester can be used. Closes June 29.​

BELLAGIO: Curated by Midori Nishizawa, "Primal Water" will feature twenty-eight Post-War and contemporary Japanese works in painting, sculpture, photography, site-specific installation, and film by artists referring to water as a way to explore themes that respond to the absence of resources. “Las Vegas, having prospered as an oasis in the desert, has a meaningful connection with this theme,” said Nishizawa in a release. "Primal Water" at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art runs from June 29 through October 21, 2018.​ADD July 5: Carol Cling is clearing her desk with last writing-to-do list. The retiring arts writer reviews 'Primal Water' in '14 Japanese artists depict water in new Bellagio gallery' / On June 30, Cling said goodbye to her readers in 'RJ arts writer reflects on 34 years of Las Vegas culture in final column.'

FINAL NOTE: Of course, I am stoked to have works from my thesis exhibition be invited to be in Outside the Box 2 for the City of Las Vegas. Sometime I will reveal what is inside these boxes. Outside the Box runs through August 30.

In the downtown Las Vegas Arts District, this wall with bold pinks stepped away from the usual abstract typography of graffiti.

​C. Moon Reed on Tokyo-born printmaker Yoshiko Shimano's exhibition "Engraving on Land" at CSN's Fine Arts Gallery. "Through a variety of printing methods—woodcut, silkscreen, stencil, monoprint, linoleum cut—an abstract portrait of a place and people emerge from the layers of prints" I Las Vegas Weekly

​Opening today, March 30 in, Washington DC, is Renwick Gallery's exhibition that includes six Burning Man sculptures "a stone’s throw from the White House" I Hyperallergic

NEXT DAY ADD "The Smithsonian’s Burning Man Art Show Is Actually Quite Good"I Bloomberg

Sarah O’Connell, Las Vegas-based theater director and publisher of culture site eatmoreartvegas,is featured in this report on "brave delegation of art-loving Nevadans" who traveled to Washington, D.C. to take part in Arts Advocacy Day I Las Vegas Weekly

If you missed it, Trump signed spending bill that increases NEA funding. Also: "Earlier this month, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and the NEA released a report that found that the arts contribute $763.6 billion to the US economy, which is more than the agriculture, transportation, or warehousing industries. It also stated that the cultural sector employs $4.9 million workers across the country who earn more than $370 billion" I ArtForum.

"The Chicano Art of a Red-Blooded American Sangre Colorado, an exhibition by Carlos Frésquez, reminds viewers that 'American' is an abstract and malleable concept" I Hyperallergic

In a topic PtD had covered before, "social media isn't just changing the way we interact with each other; it's driving the culture, especially in cities full of tourists eager to beef up their photo feeds with dispatches from elsewhere. At the same time, it is redefining the nature and intent of public art" I The Globe

Ancient statue of a winged bull destroyed by ISIS recreated by Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz. It is the "latest public art installation to sit on a sculpture platform here known as the Fourth Plinth, on Trafalgar Square" I NYTimes + ArtNet

There was buzz about Justine Ludwig's move from Dallas Contemporary to New York art nonprofit Creative Time. In an interview with ArtNet News, Ludwig spoke with ArtNet on the importance of public art. She said: "Public art is an integral part of New York City’s urban landscape. It’s a city that lives and breathes art, and public art is central to that—greatly expanding the art-going audience by enabling greater accessibility. A major issue facing cultural institutions right now is the sense so many people have of not belonging: the feeling that they don’t have access or that these institutions are not tailored to them. Central to public art is the idea that art should be part of the everyday, of everyone’s life. It’s a very different way of presenting art. Everyone has access and everyone belongs, because it’s a part of the urban fabric itself."
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​Banksy recently invaded New York with politically outspoken works I Art Newspaper

Artist Haifa Subay used street art to mark the third anniversary of full-scale war in Yemen IThe Interept

Wheatpaste and 80s-design are the focus of DC Hirshhorn Museum’s newest project, “Brand New SW.” New works draws on the Hirshhorn’s exhibit “Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s” and the exploration of artist branding. I Washingtonian

About the exhibition: Thirty years ago, seismic shifts in politics, economics and technology brought about a golden era of contemporary art in the United States, particularly in New York City, with its heady Wall Street wealth and gritty streets.

Brand New offers a fascinating alternative history of art in the 1980s by tracing how a pioneering group of young downtown artists appropriated the tools and psychology of growing consumer culture—advertising, logos, products, even cable TV—to change the landscape of the art world. Like today’s celebrity influencers, artists crafted branded personas to both market themselves and as a form of creative expression.